The House That Built Me
by hahahaida
Summary: Naoto comes to revisit the house that built her and say her final goodbyes. ONESHOT.


I don't know what made me do it. Speaking to Kanji on the phone the other night suddenly gave me this strange idea.

The bus stopped moving. I looked outside the window – it was my stop. So, I stood up and got out of the bus.

I smiled to myself, and then walked over to the big house near the hill.

When I reached the house, I looked up and lifted my hand over my eyes to block the sun. It was just as I remembered it; slightly bigger than others and thick trees growing at the yard. I smiled again, but this time, it was a sad smile.

I walked over to the rusty gate and pushed it open. I looked to my right; there was a 'for sale' sign in the ground beside my favorite climbing tree.

I walked to the door and reached for the shining, golden doorknob. Opening the door, I smelled the smell of old wood. I opened the door wider and went in. The sun casted a huge shadow of me on the wooden floorboards.

I looked around the house and then walk over to the living room. I remember watching the television with Yakushiji-san when my parents were out and grandpa was doing work. I smiled to myself again as I leaned on the wooden arch that led to the living room.

The room was empty now; everything was dusty and the switch sockets which used to be covered by the television were now revealed, with one of them broken.

Turning around, I remember my younger self dressed in a detective outfit while seriously walking out the door, ready for a case.

Another smile appeared on my face. I walked outside of the living room. To my right, I saw big, wooden doors painted dark brown. That door used to lead to grandpa's study, I remember.

My feet led me to the door and I slowly opened the large doors and my feet were no longer on creaky floorboards.

They were on soft, green carpet. When I looked up, I was expecting to see a brown desk with grandpa behind it with his reading glasses on, doing work – but there was no desk and there wasn't a grandpa either.

Looking around, I saw large built-in bookshelves that reached the ceiling – except there was a huge lack of big, thick books stacked upon them. There was only a large amount of dust and cobwebs.

A memory popped into my head – a memory of me as a kid, rushing to my grandfather. The kid version of me stood on tip-toe to see him from behind the desk and quickly told him about the information I had gathered from my newest case.

I sighed, went out the room, walked over to the stairs and went upstairs.

The upstairs smelled awfully musty, but I kept on moving. I walked over to my old room. On the door, there was still a piece of cardboard super glued onto the door – it was stuck there forever. I opened the door that revealed a rather big room for a child.

I entered. All of a sudden, I was in another world.

_I was five, looking out the window._

_I was six, getting dressed in detective wear._

_I was seven, crying on the bed._

_I was eight, putting my hat on._

_I was ten, jumping around the room in happiness._

_Then, I was sixteen, getting ready for Inaba. My bags were packed and all I had to do now was practice my male voice._

I snapped out of it and just before I walk out the door, I remembered Yakushiji-san coming in with a smile on his face as he hands me the blue cap they had just bought for me.

I shook my head out from the memory and walked to the room across mine – my parents' room. I opened the door.

There was still some furniture left in this room. There was their bed, their chest of drawers and a standing mirror.

I went to the mirror first. I saw my reflection – a twenty year old woman in men's detective clothing. But then, I suddenly see a pre-teenage boy in a typical boy's outfit with a detective cap on his head.

After squinting a little, I realize that it was a girl cross-dressing. I then see two adults – one a man while the other, a woman. The man was hugging the woman's shoulder and smiling at the little girl.

I then realized: the girl was her! I also realized who the man and women were…

"Mom?" I called in a somewhat desperate voice. "Dad?"

And just like that, the whole image vanished. All I saw in the mirror was my twenty year old self.

I went away from the mirror and went to the chest of drawers. It was a silly thing to do, but I did it anyway. I opened every single drawer, hoping that I would find something in one.

Finally, in the bottom-most drawer, I found a broken photo frame with a photograph inside. I wasn't able to see the picture due to the broken glass. I sat on the bed and slid the photo out of its frame.

I placed the frame on the bed and stared at the photograph. It was a picture of me as an eleven year old girl. I remembered exactly when this was taken. It was the day I completed my first ever _real _case.

I had found the dog who had stolen my neighbor's wallet and disk drive together with the owner of the dog.

I didn't know what came over me. I was crying all of a sudden. Tears flowed out of my tears like a water tank that has a big leak. But I just let them go. I shut my eyes tight and let them flow down my cheeks.

I lied down the bed and held the photo tightly in my hands.

Just then, I heard a voice – a _man's _voice. He was calling my name. The voice somehow reminded me of my grandfather who had passed away some time ago.

I quickly sat up and did an awfully dumb thing. "Grandpa?" I cried, and got up.

"Naoto?"

I rushed out the room and down the steps, hoping to see my grandfather with open arms. But, no. It was a man, in his early twenties – like me. He had pushed back bleached hair and a scar above his left eyebrow.

"Naoto," said Kanji. "I've tried to call but you didn't pick up."

I then remembered all over again why I came here in the first place. I wanted to see it for the last time before I go on my flight to America.

"Everyone's waiting at the airport," he said. "What're you doing here?"

"J-just wanted…" I started to say. "I just wanted to goodbye. I'll miss it here."

Kanji chuckled as he looked around the house. He then turned his head back to me with a slight smile on his face.

"I think," he said. "_Here _will miss you more."

I smiled at him.

"I'll miss you too, Kanji," I said, hugging him.

"Come on," said Kanji. "Let's save our goodbyes for the airport, yeah?"

But before Kanji could do anything, I was already sobbing into his shirt.

"C-come on, Naoto," he wailed. "Don't do this! Damn."

"I… apologize," I said as I released him from my grip. "I… just…"

"S' all okay," said Kanji. "Let's go."

And with that, he took his coat off and wrapped it around me. I blushed and my eyes shied away from his gaze.

"I'll start the car," he said, leaving me alone in the house.

I took one last look at the house, closed my eyes to see all the memories I had here flip through my head and then, I took a step outside and said goodbye.


End file.
